Former Sierra Leone Army (ex-SLA) rebels have freed
their last remaining hostages as well as women and
children abducted in January, Information Minister
Julius Spencer told IRIN from Freetown on Tuesday.

"Fifteen ECOMOG soldiers and one UN military observer
along with some 200 women and children have been released,"
Spencer said. He said the soldiers had arrived in Freetown
and seemed to be in good condition, unlike the women
and children, who were still on their way to the capital.

"There are reports that the women and children
are weak and some of the girls are pregnant,"
Spencer said. Once they are in Freetown they will receive
medical attention and trauma counselling before returning
to their families, he added.

Information received from former child captives by the
ministry responsible for childrens' affairs indicated
that girls kidnapped by rebels were used as sex slaves
and boys trained to use guns and fight, the BBC reported
on Tuesday.

The recently freed hostages formed part of a UN-led
mission of 42 who were abducted on 4 August in the
Occra Hills, about 70 km east of Freetown, by the ex-SLA,
who demanded the liberation of their leader, Johnny
Paul Koroma.

Koroma had headed the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council
(AFRC) junta which ruled Sierra Leone from May 1997
to February 1998 before it was ousted by ECOMOG. The
hostage-takers claimed he had been detained by his
Revolutionary United Front (RUF) allies.

By last Thursday, they had released seven of the group
which included UN military observers, journalists,
civilians and ECOMOG soldiers. Over the weekend, Koroma
appealed to his men from Liberia via the BBC to release
the others as well as the children and, on Sunday,
a further 19 hostages were freed. All were reported
to be in good health.

When asked what steps would be taken to avoid a repetition
of the recent events, Spencer said his government regarded
the hostage taking as an "isolated incident,"
and felt there was still a commitment on all sides
involved in the Sierra Leone peace process to continue
with its implementation.

Spencer said Koroma had been actively involved in the
release of the hostages through his radio broadcast
and "several discussions with President Ahmad
Tejan Kabbah".

In addition, he said, four senior AFRC officers from
the Occra Hills were now in Freetown and were expected
to travel to Liberia's capital, Monrovia, by Wednesday
to meet their leader and "discuss their grievances."

In addition to Koroma's release, the hostage takers
had demanded food and medicine, and more of a stake
in the 7 July Lome Peace Agreement, negotiated between
the RUF and the government.

Spencer told IRIN no food and medicine had been handed
over.

Observers in Freetown said another issue was the desire
of the former SLA soldiers to be reintegrated into
the new Sierra Leonean army.

Preacher reported killed behind rebel lines

Meanwhile, the Evangelical Fellowship of Sierra Leone
(EFSL) told IRIN on Tuesday that one of its pastors
was shot dead in the Northern Province at the weekend.

The General Secretary of the EFSL, Crispin Cole, said
reports they had received indicated that the Reverend
Francis Turay was shot and killed on Sunday between
Makeni and Lunsar, but no other details were available.

Turay, the EFSL Regional Officer for Northern Province,
had been working behind rebel lines, the EFSL said.

LIBERIA: Church network appeals for funds

Action by Churches Together (ACT) has launched an appeal
for US$ 1,945,472 for a project aimed at helping to
speed up the resettlement and reintegration of returning
refugees, IDPs, ex-combatants and other persons in
Liberia.

The project's targets include support for agriculture,
reconstruction of community infrastructure, and food
and non-food distribution, the international network
of church and related agencies said in its appeal,
launched on 5 August.

ACT members involved in the initiative are the Lutheran
World Federation, Lutheran Church in Liberia, Christian
Health Association of Liberia, United Methodist Committee
on Relief and Liberia Council of Churches.

[For more information see ACT's web site, http://www.act-intl.org]

NIGER: New constitution promulgated

The chairman of Niger's ruling Conseil national pour
la reconciliation (CNR), Major Daouda Mallam Wanke,
on Monday signed a decree promulgating the country's
new constitution, the official 'La Voix du Sahel radio
reported.

Under the constitution, the president and the prime
minister will share power and will have to govern together,
a constitutional court is to be set up and amnesty
granted to those involved in the military coups in
1996 and 1999.

On 9 April 1999, the CNR overthrew and killed then President
Ibrahim Bare Mainassara, who had seized power in 1996.
It later set up a committee to draft the new constitution,
which was approved at a referendum held in July.

The junta has announced presidential elections for 3
October and parliamentary polls for 14 November.

So far there are at least three nominees for the presidential
election.

The former ruling Rassemblement pour la democratie et
le progres has split into two factions with each nominating
a candidate. The two are chairman Hamid Elgabid and
deputy chairman Amadou Boubacar Cisse, who had been
Mainassara's prime minister.

The Parti pour la Democratie et le Socialisme has nominated
its chair, Mahamadou Issoufou, as its candidate. Issoufou
is a former speaker of the national assembly.

NIGERIA: Demonstration over parliamentarians' stipends

Hundreds of trade unionists demonstrated on Tuesday
outside Nigeria's National Assembly against the size
of allowances to be paid to parliamentarians, a media
source told IRIN.

More than 1,000 demonstrators - some media reported
up to 3,000 - took part in the protest, organised by
the main trade union umbrella, the Nigeria Labour Congress
(NLC).

The allowances, aimed at helping parliamentarians defray
the cost of moving from their places of residence to
Abuja, the capital, were approved last month by the
government.

Each of the 109 federal senators is to receive a moving
allowance of 3.5 million naira (about US$ 33,600, while
the 360 members of the House of Representatives are
to get 2.5 million naira (US$ 24,000), about 800 times
the monthly minimum wage of 3000 naira (about US$ 29),
the source said.

MALI: IMF approves US $63.06-million loan

Mali will receive SDR 46.65 (US $63.06 million) from
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to support economic
reforms, the IMF has reported.

The first tranche of the two-part loan, amounting to
SDR 6.75 million (about US $9.12 million), will be
available in mid-August, the IMF said in a statement
on 6 August. It is being disbursed under the Fund's
Enhanced Structural Adjustment facility (ESAP).

The IMF said Mali had made "considerable progress"
in reducing macroeconomics imbalances, alleviating
economic distortions and fostering growth. However,
it added, the economic and financial situation was
still fragile, poverty widespread and a substantial
chunk of structural and social reforms remained unfinished.

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